2019 Declaration on Halting Deforestation Including through Sustainable Supply Chains for Agricultural Commodities

Analytical Studies
G7/G8 Environment Ministerial Meetings

Declaration on Halting Deforestation Including through Sustainable Supply Chains for Agricultural Commodities

Metz, France, May 6, 2019
[pdf]

While there are many drivers of deforestation, which vary between countries, we recognise the link between deforestation and increasing demand for agricultural commodities, we acknowledge and declare ourselves supportive of the initiatives and commitments by 2020 and 2030, led by national and subnational governments, as well as and non-State actors, to halt deforestation (such as the New York Declaration on Forests of September 2014 and the Amsterdam Declarations of December 2015), and express our willingness to consider measures to implement sustainable supply chains for agricultural commodities, while enhancing dialogue, transparency, monitoring and accountability on agricultural commodity supply chains with a risk of deforestation;

Recalling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and our commitment to eradicate poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions, and to achieve the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner,

Highlighting the importance of sustainable forest management, and sustainable agriculture, and considering that biodiversity is a key factor for the achievement of food security and improved nutrition, and the Sustainable Development Goals;

Recalling that countries should take action to conserve and enhance, as appropriate, sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases, including through forests protection and sustainable management, forests restoration, and afforestation;

While emphasising the need to address all direct drivers of deforestation, we reaffirm our commitment to put an end to natural forest loss, including by:

supporting the private-sector goal of eliminating deforestation from the production of agricultural commodities, as well as identifying alternatives to
deforestation driven by basic needs in ways that alleviate poverty and promote sustainable and equitable development,
improving agricultural production practices, notably of small-holders,
significantly increasing the rate of global forest restoration, strengthening forest governance and transparency.

We encourage more companies to join initiatives to halt deforestation and step up their commitments to eliminate deforestation through sustainable supply chains for agricultural commodities.

We encourage multi-stakeholder partnerships, including public-private partnerships, to eliminate deforestation from agricultural commodity supply chains, by working coherently on sustainable supply chain instruments, and landscape-scale approaches.

We recognise the importance of sustainable supply chains and development, due diligence, fair trade, good governance, inclusiveness and transparency and cooperation among partner countries in order to take coherent action in support of sustainable growth objectives.

We acknowledge the importance of considering the issue of deforestation, in particular that related to agricultural commodity supply chains in current dialogues and agreements between consumer and producer countries, the importance of knowledge sharing and capacity building, as well as the importance for consumer countries to maintain an open dialogue with each other so as to have a better chance of being able to take substantial and effective collective action towards halting deforestation through sustainable supply chains for agricultural commodities.

In line with international commitments this is supportive of the aim of strengthening forest governance, transparency and the rule of law, while taking into account the situation of indigenous peoples and local communities – especially those pertaining to their lands and resources.

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Source: The Official Website of the 2019 French Presidency of the G7

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